[Marc-Impreza]

Hi guys hopefully someone can get me out of this mess,

Firstly i installed Vista a while back and never really got to grips with it and it seemed to run alot slower than XP,
so i thought id go back to XP, so i backed up what i wanted to keep on my ipod, inserted the xp recovery disk, rebooted tapped F5 or whichever 1 it is i forget to select to boot from disk, it booted from disk and had 3 options, delete old windows file press L, to make a new folder and save it to that one press etc etc ..........blah blah.....

so i pressed L and it set off (i should probably tell you i wanted to format my HDD not just delete the windows folder which is what i thought i was doing....was i? anyway) i left it and when i came back it said a certain file couldn't be found at around 60% and it gave me options try again, restart or just carry on (warning this could effect windows running etc etc)

I stupidly thought its ok ill just get the file of the net once i get xp back, this happened about 5 times so 5 times stupidly i pressed carry on... it then came to the installing windows screen this should take about 39 minutes but straight away an error message comes up and just says press ok i press ok it just reboots and comes back to installing windows and the error message, i press ok (obvious where this is going) it reboots and again the error message pops up, so im stuck in this circle going nowhere. i know its all because im stupid, im just hoping some1 can help me sort it....

Fortunatly i've got a laptop in my household to write to you guys for help,


cheers guys

Marc.

Edited by Marc-Impreza, 30 March 2008 - 02:45 PM.

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If i've buggered my HDD rather than no reply can you tell me and i'll buy another, just i need my computer for college work,

thanks sorry for double post.

P.S i think i just need to format my HDD and start again but i cant get out this circle.....

Edited by Marc-Impreza, 30 March 2008 - 02:57 PM.

[Marc-Impreza]

If i've buggered my HDD rather than no reply can you tell me and i'll buy another, just i need my computer for college work,

thanks sorry for double post.

P.S i think i just need to format my HDD and start again but i cant get out this circle.....

Edited by Marc-Impreza, 30 March 2008 - 02:57 PM.

[clennox]

I think you may have 2 seperate issues here.

Firstly, try using another installation CD. Usually, the 'cannot find file' error is due to the surface of the CD being scratched or the area it is trying to read is damadged in some way (Heat/distortion/etc) Some times they're just worn out but if you havent used the CD that much then it should be ok. Just check for damadge and ask a friend if you can borrow his. As long as you have a valid license key you can use any CD you want (Some exceptions are CD's such as volume licensed CD's)

Secondly, it would seem you have a damadged or corrupted HDD. I would replace it just to be on the safe side. You can still use it as a second HDD to store software on. Dont use it to store data (photo's/college work/etc) as if it is damadged you will loose it if it goes terminal. Installing software is fine as if it goes wrong you can just remove it and reinstall it on the new drive. (Although i wouldnt do this myself, but im just giving you as much info a possible so you can decide for yourself).

Hope this helps.

Edited by clennox, 31 March 2008 - 04:13 AM.